


Siren’s Curse

by Internal_Screaming



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blood, Experiments, Gen, Kidnapping, Mer!Hunk, Mer!Lance, Merman Lance, Pirate!Keith, Pirates, Siren!Pidge, mermaid au, merman hunk, mostly pidge centered, mythical AU, pissy pidge
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-09
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2019-01-10 23:59:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 15,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12310605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Internal_Screaming/pseuds/Internal_Screaming
Summary: Galra are slowly taking over the kingdom, only a few villages stand against the empire, and even those are disappearing quickly.Pidge remembers the day they took her family, and every day since, she had tried to find a way to get to them. Then her answer comes, as she finds Shiro during a storm. She believes this may be her chance to get on land and find her lost family.Galra are a specific race on earth, mermaids and sirens are different species and believed to be myths. Pirates roam the seas and are known to either give no shits about the war against the Galra or have chosen a side. Usually the side being that of the Galra.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted a siren!pidge fic.
> 
> So here it is.
> 
> I will fill the Pidge centered fanfic tag myself if I have to.
> 
> You can’t stop me.

Pidge held the crystal close to her face, examining it closely before shoving it roughly into her bag. The light shone through the shallow water, causing shafts of light to bleed through the holes of the corals and rocks. She quickly looked up and noticed the water level was getting dangerously low, if she stayed any longer, she could get stuck in the shallow reef until the tide rose again. With a flick of her tail, she darted away from the reef, her bag full of trinkets and crystals. She poked her head above the water and stared at the top of the cliff that overlooked the nearby beach, a sense of longing tugging at her gut. She shook her head and dove back underwater, being sure not to attract any unwanted attention.

She kept herself close to the surface, but not close enough to be spotted by any ships that could be out on the water that day. Galra ships tended to patrol the waters daily, but never knew of the people who lived below them. Yet today was oddly quiet, which was never too good of a sign.

The water shifted around her and she paused before turning her gaze back to the surface. Waves rolled above her, getting bigger and bigger with each passing second. She recognized them as signs of an approaching storm.

“Pidge!” A voice chirped through the waters. Pidge turned around to see a blue merman speeding towards her, his brilliantly blue scales shinning through the oceans darkness. Slightly paler blue designs covered his tale, the designs reminded her of frost. “Pidge!” Lance called again as he got closer, Hunk right behind him.

Hunks scales were a brilliant gold with patches of earthy brown that covered his tail. Even the brown slightly sparkled with specks of gold, he was extremely popular with the other mermaids in their pod. Both mermen had smaller scales that blended into the the more human half of their body, the patches on their naval, shoulders and ears, in which were replaced with fins, then there was always the extra webbing between their fingers. All merfolk had different tail shapes, Lances resembled a Siamese fighting fish while Hunks resembled a koi’s. She had even seen merfolk with shark-like tails. 

Her own features were slightly different though, her tail resembled a lion fish, only with deep jade green colours mixed with lighter green and white. She had more patches of scales than merfolk, the extra patches on her elbows and the bridge of her nose. Even more, she had extra fins running along her back and the back of her forearms. Other than that, she had the same extra features that Hunk and Lance shared.

“Pidge! There you are! A storm is coming! We need to get back to the pod and hunker down in the deeper waters until it passes! If we don’t, the waves and currents will bat us around like a bunch a guppies!” Hunk exclaimed.

“I noticed, I was just coming back!” Pidge replied, struggling through the suddenly strong currents. 

A shadow loomed over the trio, causing them all to look up and see a huge metal ship fighting against the waves. “Even more, now a Galra ship is here! We need to get to deeper waters!” Lance yelped, tugging at Pidge’s arm. But Pidge didn’t move, instead she stared at the ship looming over them.

“It isn’t suppose to be this far off course,” she whispered.

“What?” Hunk yelled over the rising noise of the crashing waves that echoed throughout the space around them.

“That ship up there! It’s way off course! Galra ships don’t come this deep into shipwreck areas!” Pidge explained.

“It’s was probably just the storm! Let’s go!” Lance insisted. 

“It doesn’t make sense!” Pidge argued. The waves around grew bigger and Pidge struggled with the current. “They could be up to something!”

With that being said, something plunged into the water, causing the merfolk to shriek in union and dart away from it. Lance was the first to react, yelling “It’s a person!” And quickly swam towards him. Hunk and Pidge looked at each other, then followed Lance and realized he was right. 

At first, Pidge suspiciously eyed the person, afraid it could be Galra. The suspicion disappeared when she saw he was human, even more, a familiar human. Her eyes widened with shock, then she immediately took hold of one of his arms. Lance looked over at her in confusion, and she looked to the surface. “We need to get him to the surface! He’s drowning!” She yelled. Lances eyes widened, then he nodded in understanding, in which they then both shot to the raging surface. 

Upon breaking through the surface, they were greeted with pelting rain as waves crashed around them. The Galra ship was quite a few paces away, still struggling with the storm. Pidge hoped they didn’t see her and Lance struggle to keep the human afloat. 

“What do we do now Pidge?” Lance screamed over the crashing waves.

“I-I don’t know! We need to get him to land! He might die of hyperthermia if don’t get him out of the water!” Pidge yelped.

“Hyper-what?” Lance screamed.

“Being too cold!” Pidge screamed back.

“I know a place!” Hunk yelped. “There is a underwater cave near here! Just below the surface! It has an air pocket in it!”

“Wait- that’s my stash area!” Lance yelped.

“We can discuss that later! Let’s go!” Pidge exclaimed, then tugged the human reluctantly under the surface and quickly after Hunk. 

Then something else splashed behind her, and grabbed one of her fins, causing her to cry out and lose her grip on the human. “Pidge!” Lance yelped.

“It’s fine! Take him to the cave! I’ll meet you there!” She hissed, then spun on her attacker. Her green scales glowing in the dark lit up his face, as well as the dagger in his hand. He glared at her and kicked himself to the surface while dragging her with him. With a hiss, she twisted up and bit the hand keeping hold of her tail, causing him to yell out in pain and let go. With a twist, she turned on him and swam at him at full speed while barring her teeth and reaching out to claw him. With a quick motion, he whipped out his blade and slashed it through the water, cutting her cheek as she pulled away at the last second. 

He didn’t stop there though, before she could react, he had grabbed her by her ear-fin and dragged her into a choke hold with his dagger against her throat. She hissed and struggled but the knife only drew closer, causing her to pause and rethink her next action. He dragged her to the surface, taking a deep breath of air before pressing the knife deeper and causing her to gasp in pain.

“Call your friends back! Bring back Shiro! I refuse to come all this way only to watch him become fish food!” He hissed.

Pidge froze, “What do you want with Shiro?” She questioned. She felt the knife dig deeper in response and a trickle of warmth slid down her neck. 

“Don’t you dare say his name! Now call your friends back, Fish!” He insulted.

Pidge had enough, she elbowed him hard in the gut, causing him to choke out a gasp and let her go. She dived into the water and grabbed him by the foot, dragging him into the depths with her. He tried kicking her off, reaching for the surface then trying to stab her. He didn’t get too close though, Pidge’s speed causing him to flail behind her.

His struggles got more and more pitiful as he began to lose oxygen, then Pidge spotted Hunks flashing tail and sped up.

She zipped into the cave and dragged the man onto the rocks, then watched as he coughed up water and twist onto his side as he sputtered. Looking to the other side, she spotted Shiro, who was doing the same thing. Which meant he was alive.

Relief flooded her as she shuffled over to him, completely forgetting about the knife guy. “Shiro?” She asked. 

Shiro shuttered before opening his eyes slowly, looking over to Pidge her leaned over him. “Matt?” He asked hoarsely.

“You’ve seen him?!” She gasped. “You know where he is?”

“Matt is that you?” Shiro asked, dazed.

“No, no Shiro, I need to know where Matt IS. Where is Matt Shiro?” She pressed.

“Matt... I’m... I’m sorry... I’m so sorry... I tried to fight them... I saw her fall... I’m sorry...” he whimpered, seemingly delusional.

Pidge leaned back with a sigh, whatever the Galra did messed, they messed him up pretty bad. What he said though in his delusion concerned her, hinting that Matt probably was still with the Galra. She couldn’t help her growing disappointment.

Luckily, Lance and Hunk both made a small squeak as the other man Pidge brought back sat up. She looked over and frowned, now she had to deal with the problem she brought back. She slowly slid back into the water and glared at him, in which he looked between the merfolk and Shiro. Both Lance and Hunk hid behind Pidge as she held herself up in the water, crossing her arms as she watched him. His entire wardrobe screamed ‘Pirate’, not to mention he glared as much as Pidge did, maybe a more. “Well? How do you know Shiro?” Pidge asked.

The man looked at her with confusion, his eyes drifting between her and the two bigger mermen who hid behind her. Then he seemed to focus on her question. “How do I know-? How do you know him? And why am I not dead yet?” He asked. He suddenly got defensive, “are you going to kill me now?”

“No! You idiot!” Pidge snapped. “Jeez! We try to help and you start swinging your knife around like an idiot!” His eyes snapped to the cut on her cheek, then he shuffled closer to Shiro.

“You dragged him underwater, I only assumed that the legends were true-“ he cautiously said.

Pidge heaved a sigh and dramatically rolled her eyes, “You two, go back to the pod. They are probably worried sick that two of their guppies are missing.” She directed to Hunk and Lance.

“But I want to stay and look at the pirate!” Lance whined.

The pirate flinched as he was addressed, now watching the blue merman. 

“P-Pidge is right Lance! They are probably really worried! You have to come back too Pidge, you’re still a guppy yourself,” he quickly added.

“I’ll be fine, they won’t worry as much about me, you guys have actual parents,” Pidge sighed, trying to shoo them away.

“But the pirate!!” Lance wailed. “I NEVER get to see humans this close! NEVER!!” The pirate just stared at them with confusion, amazed by the fact that such deadly creatures of legend were bickering in front of him. 

“FINE!” Pidge wailed. “You can ask his name, then we all leave. I doubt they can leave this cave based on the fact they would drown before reaching the surface.

Lance squealed with delight and splashed over to the human, he fell back in surprise from the sudden movement and held his knife in front of him defensively. Though it didn’t seem to faze the blue merman at all, “Hello human! My name is Lance! What’s yours?” He chirped.

The human looked between him and the other merfolk, then swallowed. “Keith,” he said slowly, watching for their reaction.

“Keemf?” Lance asked. “Weird name! Well Kerf-“

“Keith.”

“Steve.”

“Keith.”

“Steeth?”

“Keith.”

“Keith?”

“Keith.” 

“Ok Keith! We have to go, but we will come back! With fish! Don’t touch my stash!” He clicked, then dove in the water. Hunk did a small wave before following him and Pidge slowly narrowed her eyes as she sunk underwater after the two boys. 

She heard the sound of metal clattering to the ground and a thump as Keith probably fainted. 

Pidge just sighed bubbles as she followed the two back to the pod, but couldn’t help a smile forming on her face. This might just be the thing that gets her a step closer to Matt and her dad.


	2. Fishies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is very confused.  
> Lance wants to look at the hooman

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoa. Season 4 huh.
> 
> WELP. 
> 
> ENJOY SOME KLANCE MOMENTS.

 

 

Keith paced around the small cove, his worry increasing with each passing second. When he woke up, he found wood and some dead fish lying in a pile near the waters edge. But that didn’t worry him, it was the fact that the fish people hadn’t killed them yet. What were they waiting for?

He couldn’t seem to wrap his head around it, so instead, he decided to figure out how to get out of the cove. With some exploring, he found the blue merman’s, Lance’s, stash in a dip in the ground behind some rock formations. How he got the stuff there was beyond Keith, but he decided to search through it to see if he could find anything useful.

Which then led to a waste of time, the only things Lance seemed to stash were shiny things and extremely waterlogged items from what he would guess, sunken ships. His mind wandered back to the merpeople, he couldn’t help but think of all the legends he had heard and then watched them bicker like siblings in front of him.

Shouldn’t they be more monstrous? Yeah, the one bit him which left some pretty bad puncture wounds on his hands, but other than that, they seemed almost human. Humans with fish tails, sharp shark teeth and sharp nails who also were known to drown and eat people.

His thoughts then wandered to the blue merman and his inability to get Keith’s name right. His huge smile revealing the rows of sharp teeth, and the excited wiggle he did when getting closer to Keith. He shook his head as he cleared his thoughts, now was not the time to get distracted.

He made his way back to where Shiro was and sat beside him, placing his hand on his forehead and checking his temperature. With a frown, he pulled his hand back and looked at the bundle of woods. Shiro seemed to have a fever, and he was burning up fast. His hands felt clammy and his breath was quick and shaky. With a sigh of defeat, he went over to the pile and took the wood, bringing it closer to Shiro so he could start a fire. Going back to the ‘stash’, he dug around some more before managing to find some blankets and bowls. Maybe he could also find something to start a fire easier, and as luck would have it, he found a chunk of flint.

Without hesitation, he shuffled back to Shiro with his arms full and dumped them at his feet. He whipped out the blankets and shook the dirt and dust out of them before draping them over Shiro. Then, he set up the wood, ripped some pages from an old waterlogged book that was impossible to read, and struck the flint with a butter knife. Sparks flew and landed on the paper, causing it to smoke slightly as he struck the flint again. He leaned close to the power and blew gently, encouraging the flame to grow. Within seconds, he managed to start a fire and absorb the heat it radiated, which felt incredible.

Shiro groaned and Keith quickly jumped towards him, attempting to help him in any way possible. Coughing escaped his lips as he struggled to his side, shuttering as he tried to breath. Then he began to dry heave, gasping and coughing out bile onto the ground beside him.

Keith felt utterly helpless, he needed medicine, and all he could do was pace around in an underwater cave. After hunting down the Galra and tracking Shiro for the last year, he ends up at the mercy of some fish.

How did everything go downhill so fast?

And how did that green fish know Shiro? He’s never mentioned knowing any merfolk before, so was she lying?

It was impossible to tell, but the way she looked at Shiro was almost like she had met him before. Keith shook his head and added another log to the fire, keeping the flame alive.

Whoever they were and whatever their goals were, he knew he shouldn’t let his guard down. It was how people drown at sea.

Shiro started his coughing fit again, gagging as he coughed up more bile. Keith frowned and looked at the fire and then back to him. One of those fishes knew that they needed wood for fire, or else he would’ve started digging more through the merman’s stash in order to get a fire started and keep them warm. He had no doubt it was the girl, but how she knew, he couldn’t figure it out. Did she talk to humans before?

He suddenly jolted with realization, if she knew Shiro, then he could’ve been the one to tell her about humans and their needs. Which would confirm that she DID know Shiro beforehand.

Man, he was really over thinking this. He was probably just delusional from diving off his boat into freezing cold waters in the middle of a STORM. Yep, that was the case. He was just delusional.

A head popped out of the water and Keith yelped, kicking away from the water and behind the fire. “Hi Meef!” The blue merman chirped, visibility wiggling with what he would guess was excitement. “I got you and your friend some fish to eat!” With that being said, he dumped an arm full of different fish onto the cave floor, and Keith watched in disgust as some as the fish slid around and made a ‘squelch’ noise. One fish started to flop around. “Whoops! Missed one!” Lance exclaimed as he grabbed the fish and whacked it against the hard floor, stilling it. Keith couldn’t seem to take his eyes off the fish that the merman just killed. “Well! Pick your favourite!” Lance grinned, he was leaning on the rock surface while leaning on his hands. Keith looked between him and the fish pile, not really wanting to get closer to those sharp teeth.

He looked behind the fish-man, seeing if the other two were here as well. Lance must’ve noticed his gaze and followed it, “oh! Just me today! Hunk is busy with the pod and Pidge is doing... whatever Pidge does,” Lance shrugged. His tail lazily flopped from side to side as he watched Keith curiously. He then scrunched up his nose and frowned. “Whoa, what’s that smell?” He asked, looking around the cave.

Keith looked over to Shiro and his weakened state, unsure of what the merman would do if he saw Shiro. Lance followed his gaze and must’ve noticed the bile by Shiro. “Your friend!” He gasped, scooting around his pile and looking at Shiro. Keith instinctively jumped in front of him, creating a wall between him and the merman.

“Don’t get any closer!” Keith growled. Lance looked visibility hurt as he pulled back.

“I just want to know what’s wrong! Is he hurt?” He whined, getting closer once again.

Keith hesitated before answering, not wanting to give this fish a reason to attack Shiro. “He’s sick...” He slowly said, keeping an eye on Lance.

Lance perked up, “sick? So you need herbs! I can get herbs! If I get herbs, will you trust me?”

“What?” Keith asked.

“Alright! I’ll get herbs and then you will trust me Steef!” Lance beamed. Before Keith could react, Lance dipped into the water and disappeared into the depths. The merman still couldn’t get his name right.

After watching the spot where Lance disappeared and confirming he was actually gone, he snuck over to the pile and picked out the fish he recognized as editable. He looked over at the tuna from before and back at Shiro, he had no idea how long it had been there and decided not to risk cooking the tuna if it was rotten.

Using his dagger, he gutted the fish speared them on some of the sharper sticks from the wood pile, then held them over the fire. He licked his dry lips and frowned.

They needed water at some point, especially Shiro. Fresh water.

Lance suddenly burst out of the water, causing Keith to jump up and hold the fish out of the splash zone, and then he dragged himself halfway onto the ledge, wagging his tail like an excited puppy. “I got em! Coral seaweed!” He chirped, wagging a handful of colourful plants in the air. “It always helps me when I eat something bad or hit my head too hard!”

Keith eyed the seaweed suspiciously, “would those even be safe for humans? I have never seen or heard of them before.”

“The only reason you don’t know about is because they only grow in the deep parts of the ocean in crevices and coves! It’s an all cure!” Lance pouted, trying to get closer to Shiro. Keith stood in his path, not wanting those sharp canines anywhere near him.

“I don’t want him to get more sick,” Keith said instead.

“He won’t! You just have to put it on him!” Lance said, as he tried to scoot past Keith’s legs, still waving the seaweed around.

“Put it on-... fine! If you’re so insistent, I’ll try it, but I have to put it on him! I’m not letting you near him!” Keith yelled.

Lance stuck out his bottom lip, and somehow made his eyes look bigger as he sadly looked up at Keith. “But! But what if it only works if a merman does it?” Lance whimpered.

Keith glared at the fish who grovelled at his feet, tugging gently at his pant leg and looking like a kicked puppy. He felt his glare waver and struggled to keep it up. He was a monster! So why was he having such a hard time telling it ‘no’? A few more seconds of them staring at each other and Keith caved in, sighing in defeat. “Ok! Fine! But if you try anything-!” Keith warned, but was cut off as Lance made an excited squeal, then bounced and flopped over to Shiro, still waving around the seaweed.

Keith felt his hand hover over his dagger and grow tense as Lance got extremely close to Shiro’s face. He got closer and watched him apply the seaweed, which Lance took each piece and dragged his nail through the middle, causing the plant to ooze some sort of paste before placing it on Shiro’s forehead. He repeated the process and placed each piece in a different place, anywhere he could see skin. He then paused and lifted Shiro’s one arm. “Meeth?”

“Keith.”

“Why is his hand missing?” Lance asked, gently holding the poorly wrapped arm that covered the stub. It was soaked in blood, and Keith felt his breath get caught in his throat before rushing over. How could he have missed that?!

“I-I don’t know,” Keith whimpered. Lance looked at him, then at Shiro. With a slow motion of his hands, he removed the bandages, causing Keith to cry out in protest before realizing he was replacing them with the seaweed. “Why are you-?” He asked.

“I told you! An all cure for us merfolk! It should stop any infections,” Lance explained. He looked over at the water and then at his spot on the land. “Um... Steith?” Lance suddenly asked.

“It’s KEITH. And what?” He said, standing back up.

“Can you... drag me back to the water?” He asked.

Keith then realized how far on land he had gotten, and the risk he took in order to help Shiro. He forgot that he was half fish during those moments. “I... Alright,” he complied. He may have judged these people too quickly. “How would I?...” He asked, looking at the massive tail.

“Don’t grab just the fin, it hurts,” Lance said.

Keith looked at the tail that was made mostly of fin, trying to figure out how to grab hold.

“C’mon! I’m drying out here!” He whined.

“Alright!” Keith burst, then grabbed the tail near the end, wrapping around the muscle. He forced himself not to shiver as he realized how slimy it felt, struggling to keep a grip as he dragged him towards the water. Yet he also noticed the muscle that tensed and shifted in his hands. He would HATE to be hit by one of these tails, they could probably shatter bones.

He made it to the water and gently placed the tail in the water and stepped back, watching as Lance slid gracefully in and bob back up to the surface. “Thanks Keith!” He beamed, splashing around as he wet his face.

Keith nodded and sat down, crossing his arms and realizing his growing curiosity of the merfolk. “Can I ask you something? About your... species?”

Lance looked over to him I’m surprise, then his eyes lit up with excitement and rushed over to the edge. “Of course! What do you want to know?”

“Do merpeople... sing sailors to their death and eats them?” He quickly asked.

Lance gasped and placed a hand on his chest, “of course not! Those are more or less Sirens! Merfolk don’t have magic singing, we have elements!”

“Elements- Wait, I thought merfolk and sirens were the same!” Keith said, getting confused.

“Oh no, merfolk and Sirens are two different species. Sirens have magic voices and a somewhat wide but limited range of sea magic. They can’t survive on land. Merfolk have more powerful and specific magic, not to mention if we dry on land, we get legs! But I’ve heard it’s extremely painful!” Lance explained.

“Then, how do you tell the difference by looking at them?” Keith asked.

“I never met a siren before, so I’m not entirely sure, I think my mama told me it’s the eyes. I forget what is was about the eyes, but something,” he trailed off. “Anything else?”

Keith bit his lip as he thought, “what’s your magic then?”

Lance looked up at him, and grinned, then touched the edge and sent a spiral of frost that grew into a small patch that looked like the moon. “I have ice!” He smirked, seemingly happy he got to show off. Keith stared at the frost in amazement, even as it melted. Lance then perked up and twisted in the water. “I have to go, I’ll see you later Leith!” He smirked, then disappeared with a small splash.

Keith watched the water settle before going back to the fire and setting another log on it. He checked Shiro again and felt relief flood through him when he saw he had stopped sweating and shivering. The seaweed must be working.

His eyes wandered to the place where his hand used to be, then to the scars on his face and arms. He bet there were many on his chest and back as well, hidden by the prisoner rags he wore.

What happened to you Shiro?

He looked at the water then back at him. Another question rising, how would they get out of here?

 

 

(Check out what Pidge looks like [Here](https://that-one-mod.tumblr.com/post/166433460609/there-is-not-enough-mersiren-pidge-out-there-so)!)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My child. So pure.


	3. Chit Chat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge and Keith bond while Lance and Hunk have a nice chat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some nice character interactions for ya’ll.

3

Pidge corked the bottle, shaking it to make sure nothing would spill. She shoved it into her bag with the rest of the bottles and other items and dove under. Purifying water was hard, especially when all you had were scraps from old ships to create something to separate the salt from the water. This would all be so much easier if she could just go on land. 

She headed towards Lance’s stash cave, hoping that the two men there were still alive and used the wood she brought to start a fire. She hoped it dried off by the time they woke up so they could use it.

She would’ve brought them back to the surface after the storm but something was wrong with Shiro, causing her to leave them there instead of risking it on getting worse because she dragged him through icy waters too soon.

She made her way through the dark and gently lifted herself out of the water. She noted that the tuna Hunk caught was untouched, but the firewood was half gone, she also noticed a new pile of fish that was there.

Most likely the social butterfly Lance, Hunk wouldn’t visit these two alone. Keith was awake and sitting beside a blooming fire, creating flickers of light and shadows on the walls. She dumped her bag on the ledge with a ‘clank!’ and shuffled through it, taking out the bottles of water. “Alright, I brought some water back, you better be grateful because it was a pain in my ass to make.”

Keith jumped when she spoke, looking over as if being snapped out of a series of thoughts. “Water?” He asked. “As in fresh water and not sea water?”

“No not sea water, I got the salt out of it, so it will keep you hydrated instead of killing you,” she explained as she rummaged through her bag some more and pulled out oranges. “This was even MORE painful to get, you’re lucky it’s orange season and some fall in the water this time of year,” she sighed.

Keith looked at her, confused. “Why oranges?”

“So you don’t get scurvy you dimwit!” She hissed. “What kind of pirate doesn’t know about scurvy?” 

“I haven’t been a pirate very long!” Keith protested. 

“Well, learn quick because scurvy is silent and deadly. It’s possible that it’s what is causing Shiro’s fever. Try feeding him some, forcefully if you have to,” She ordered. Looking over to the unconscious man, she noticed he was covered in the Coral Seaweed. Clearly, it confirmed that Lance was here.

It may explain why Keith was much more calm this time around as well compared to their last encounter. She turned to leave, needing to get them more wood which may take awhile to find again, when Keith yelped a ‘wait!’ She turned around and saw him closer to the waters edge than she had ever seen him before. He was defiantly more comfortable around them.

“Why are we here?” He asked.

“Because it was the closest dry place to get you guys without struggling against a storm and raging waters,” she simply said.

“Then... why are you helping us?” He asked.

“Because I don’t like watching people die when I can do something. And before you ask, no, we aren’t keeping you here forever. There’s a beach a quick five minute swim from here, I was going to bring you there after the storm but...” she looked over to Shiro, then sighed. “Just try to get him better so we can bring you both to land as soon as possible.” 

“I’m sorry!” Keith suddenly blurted as she turned away a second time.

“For what?” She asked, curious as to why he suddenly apologized. 

“For... for cutting your cheek and throat,” he sighed.

“Oh,” she said, touching the cut on her cheek. She had forgotten about it. “Well... sorry for biting you,” she apologized back.

He looked at his hand as if he forgot about it as well.

Before it got too awkward, she dove back underwater, glad that the pirate was slowly beginning to trust them. 

She dug through her bag, checking to make sure everything was there before heading to the surface. She had to find some driftwood, and if she was lucky, she might find a boat in which she could snag a board or so off of the boat. Only the big ships though, she could never be as heartless as to sink a small boat for wood.

With a flick of her tail, she zipped through the water in search for more wood.

——————————

“You went back to them?” Hunk asked, his arms full of different types of vegetation as he swam around and gathered more. Lance searched the rocks for specific corals, as was part of his daily jobs as a gatherer. 

“Of course! I had to get them different types of fish! What if humans don’t like tuna? They would’ve starve!” He exclaimed. 

“No they wouldn’t, Pidge would’ve fed them. She doesn’t have jobs in the pod like us, so she will make sure they’re fine! If we disappear too often, then the pod will notice, especially our parents!” Hunk whispered as he looked around.

“But we never see humans Hunk! We are barely allowed near the surface, not to mention ships! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity! And they are so cool! Like, they heat up their food! Isn’t that weird?” He exclaimed, swimming in excited circles.

“Lance, we need to be careful. Merfolk are disappearing more often, and a lot of the adults believe that humans are the reason for that. If they found out, they might kill them!” Hunk hushed, looking over his shoulder.

“But those are the Galra! Pidge said so!” Lance argued.

“The elders don’t believe that Galra and Humans are different, they think they are the same species. In any case, we need to be careful that no one hears us!” Hunk whimpered.

“The elders are full of hooey,” Lance mumbled as he cracked off a clump of coral. 

“They keep us safe Lance!” Hunk yelped.

“They keep us trapped! Not all humans are bad!” Lance cried back. “Keith is so cool! And his friend is harmless!”

“I know that Lance, but they won’t listen! We just have to be careful! Ok?” Hunk asked.

“I... ok...” Lance sighed in defeat. “Where is Pidge?” 

“She told me she’s getting ‘wood’ for the humans, I don’t know why but she was very insistent on it,” he exclaimed.

“Well maybe we can help her after we finish our jobs!” Lance perked up at his own idea.

“I don’t see why not, we could just tell our parents we are hanging out with Pidge, and we wouldn’t be lying,” Hunk agreed.

“It’s a plan!” Lance happily chirped and began searching faster, the idea of more exploring fuelling his energy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lance is such a puppy.


	4. Panic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro wakes up, and it seem not a second too late.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter gets more intenese! Finally, some action!

Shiro slowly sat up, his head swimming as he tried to look around. He spotted a small fire beside him and quickly realized he was covered in blankets. “Shiro?” A familiar voice asked. He turned his head and spotted Keith on the other side of him, holding a glass bottle. “You’re awake!” He yelped, jumping to his feet and rushing over to his side. 

“I... Keith? Where are we?” He asked, dazed as he tried to connect his scattered memories.

“An underwater cave,” Keith responded, in which Shiro snapped his head in his direction, surprise etched on his face. 

“Under... water? How did we get here?” He asked, realizing that was why it seemed so dark and smelled heavily of salt.

“You leapt off a ship in the middle of a thunderstorm, some... some merfolk saved you,” Keith explained.

“Merfolk?!” Shiro yelped, looking around wildly as if they were just hidden in the corner. “Are you sure?”

Keith looked at him, confused. “I thought you knew of merfolk?”

“Only from legends, I didn’t actually believe they existed!” He gasped. He looked at himself, then Keith, “why aren’t we dead yet though? Don’t they eat people? Or at least drown them?” He asked.

“I,” Keith paused. “I thought that too, but they’ve been helping us. The one brings us things like water and wood and the other two try to help as well. One even helped cure your fever, which is why you’re covered in seaweed,” he explained. 

Shiro looked at his arms and sure enough, he was covered in seaweed. Very colourful seaweed that he has never seen before. “Incredible...” he whispered as he gently touched it with his one hand, then noticed the stub on his other and quickly looked away from it. “How long have I been out?” 

“It’s hard to tell, I think maybe three to five days?” Keith shrugged.

“Three to five?!” Shiro yelped.

“You were sick! You could barely move without regurgitating your entire stomach!” Keith countered. “You need to take it easy, as much as I want to get out of this cave, you need to rest. The merpeople are nice enough to actually keep us alive and as skeptical as I can be, they have no reason to keep us alive other than because they want to.”

Shiro looked Keith dead in the eyes, then sighed. “The fact that you are starting to trust them is enough proof for me to trust them.” He smiled. “So what are they like?”

“Well... very... human,” Keith struggled. “The one who put the seaweed on you is very excitable, very social, and tends to whine a bit when he doesn’t get his way. His buddy is much bigger, but quieter. Really timid, I still don’t know a lot about him. The last is a small girl but she is terrifying, but I believe she means well. She’s a little... feisty. She’s the one who keeps bringing us the wood and water.”

“How would she know those are essential things for us?” Shiro asked.

“I don’t know, I thought you told her,” Keith muttered.

“Me? I have never met a mermaid or merman. Why would you think that?” Shiro asked.

“Because she knows you,” Keith said, turning to Shiro. Shiro’s eyes widened in confusion. “When she first dragged me here, she jumped up and tried to wake you up. You started yelling about someone named Matt and she kept asking where he was. Then you passed out and she left it there, when I try asking her about it, she disappears.”

“Matt...” Shiro trailed off. “Matt is the person I was visiting the day the Galra showed up. They live outside of Kerbeos, and I was there helping him and his father... they were both taken by the Galra as well. He’s still with them, he’s still being tortured by them and I’m sitting here doing nothing!” Shiro suddenly changed his tone, getting frustrated.

“If that’s him... why is this mermaid looking for him?” Keith asked.

“I... I don’t know...” Shiro sighed, running his one hand through his hair then looking at the stub of his other hand sadly. He then chuckled, “I wouldn’t put it past Matt if he met her secretly and befriended her, he was always fascinated with mythical creatures. He believed mermaids existed, and it seems he was right.”

“But... then how does she know you?” Keith asked.

“Maybe she saw me with him one day, asked who I was and Matt told her?” He suggested.

“That does seem to make sense,” Keith trailed off.

A splash echoed throughout the cave and both men turned to see the mermen, bobbing in the water. Shiro stared at them in shock, but Keith immediately picked up their sense of fear. “Steith!” Lance wailed, splashing and flailing up to him. “Steith! You have to come! You have to come quick! She’s stuck! She’s stuck!” 

“What?” Keith asked, trying to put together what he was crying.

“It’s Pidge!” Hunk yelped, deeming torn between sitting still and pacing around, causing him to jerk in random directions. “She’s stuck in the coral bed!”

“What do you want me to do about it? You guys can swim and breath underwater!” Keith explained, still not understanding what they were asking of him.

“No! No that’s not the problem! This reef is different! In the morning, it floods over and allows swim space to explore and Pidge loves going there to gather things!” Lance hurriedly explained. 

“But in the afternoon, the tide pulls back and it slowly dries up! And then it stays dry until the tide comes back in! In any other reef, a merfolk could drag themselves out of the area but this one has a dipped wall, making it a- a bowl or something! The Galra will spot her flailing and then- then they’ll kill her!” Hunk finished, flailing his arms.

“Why doesn’t she just change her tail to legs and jump over?” Keith asked.

“Because the process is SLOW and PAINFUL!” Lance wailed. “We need a human! We need you to pick her up and throw her back over!” 

Shiro looked from Keith to the mermen, then stood up, “I’ll help you,” he said.

“You will?” They all asked.

“But Shiro! You need to heal still-!” Keith protested.

“Their friend is in trouble, if it was me, would you hesitate?” Shiro questioned as he rolled up his pant legs.

“I... no,” Keith sighed.

“Then let's go,” he said and dipped into the water. Hunk quickly swam over and helped him in. 

“Hold your breath!” Hunk warned, seeming to lose his shy nature in wake of disaster. Keith dove in the water after them, while Hunk dragged Shiro through the water with speed and grace, then brought him to the surface. Shiro covered his eyes as the bright sun bore down on him, but felt himself smile. “Ready?” Hunk asked. Shiro nodded, and they were off, swimming at speeds that Shiro thought was impossible. Land quickly approached and he saw the sandy beaches ahead. 

“Where is your friend?” Shiro asked, scanning the beach. 

“The dip! Over there,” Hunk pointed at a more blue-ish rock area that created a wall that was easily spotted based on the low tide. When Shiro could stand on his own, he made his way up to the beach, shivering from the cold of the ocean. Yet the warmth of the sun was quickly scaring the cold away.

He dashed towards the the reef, spotting the low water levels and speeding up. Keith was by his side within the next few seconds and they both noticed the two mermen keeping pace with them in the water. They both skidded to a halt in front of the reef and looked at each other, it was full of colourful plants, half covered in sea water.

“What does she look like?” Shiro asked Keith.

“Green tail with lots of stripes, like those lionfish you can find in some markets. Short, brown hair, very petite,” Keith quickly described.

“Got it,” Shiro acknowledge, then leapt into the water, looking for the mermaid. Keith followed suit but only in the opposite direction.

“Hurry!” Cried Lance, looking worriedly towards the valley behind them. “She says the Galra patrol this area regularly! Don’t get caught!”

Shiro spotted some small splashing ahead of him, and quickened his pace, crawling over the rocks and avoiding crushing the corals. Passing the last rock, he found her, flailing weakly and half covered in water. Blood bled through the water and he felt his own blood freeze in his veins when she looked up at him. 

Matt. She looks like Matt.

“Help,” she whimpered, her eyes pleading as she stopped flailing.

Shiro shook away his thoughts and nodded, waving Keith over. With closer inspection, he noticed a large tear in one of her fins, the rock causing the tear still being lodged in it. “What happened?” He asked, trying to find a good way to get it off the rock without causing any more damage.

“Lost track of time, a patrol showed up and I panicked. Something got caught and I don’t have enough water to twist out of it,” she explained, trying to look at the damage but her angle making it impossible.

“You found her!” Keith exclaimed, crouching beside Shiro.

Shiro nodded, “ok, Pidge is it?” Shiro asked. The small mermaid nodded in confirmation. “Keith and I are going to lift you straight up, then throw you over to the other side. It may hurt a bit.”

Pidge nodded, “I just feel so stupid, I should’ve been more careful...”

“It’s fine, we’re here now, and we’ll get you out,” Shiro soothed. “Keith, grab her tail, I’ll pick up her up from under her arms!” Keith complied, gentle getting a grip on the slippery tail as Shiro linked his arms under hers, then they readied themselves. 

“You have to hurry,” Pidge hissed. “The patrol will be here in the next few minutes. I don’t want them shooting you.”

“Just worry about now,” Shiro insisted. “One. Two. Three!” They heaved her up and she shrieked in pain as her fin torn some more on the sharp rock before finally being pulled off. Shiro had to resist the urge to cover his ears, and it seemed Keith struggled to do the same. They quickly recovered and hobbled over to the ledge, and with two practice swings, they tossed her over the wall and into the water with a splash!

“Hurry! Come over the wall!” Hunk hissed, “I can hear them coming!”

Both Shiro and Keith nodded, then leapt over the wall and splashed into the water behind it. Hunk helped hold them above water as Lance helped Pidge who hissed with pain with every small movement. 

They all held still when they heard the heavy thumps of soldiers jogging past the beach. Every breath was held, and nobody dared to move. Then the stomping faded, and everyone relaxed when the merfolk relaxed.

“You’re alive!” Hunk cheered, quickly sweeping Pidge into a huge hug.

“Ow! Tail! Tail!” She yelped, pulling away.

“We should probably take at look at it, there was quite a lot of blood in that water,” Shiro suggested, concern lacing his voice as he looked at her worriedly.

She looked down and sighed, “You’re right, sharks may show up soon, let’s head to my cove, it connects to the beach.” 

“Yay! Pidge’s place!” Lance cheered, then grabbed Keith’s hand and dragged him after him. Hunk offered his hand to Shiro and he took it with a smile. Hunk then helped Pidge, wrapping his other arm under hers and they swam together towards their destination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What is going on? Huh? If Pidge is a mermaid, shouldn’t matt be a merman? Find out this and more in our next thrilling chapter.


	5. Secrets Revealed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pieces are put together and a web of lies is torn apart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lil bit of angst, and some good ol plot. Gotta love the fish babies.
> 
> Thanks for the support everyone! I really appreciate it.

Pidge shuffled through her stash, tugging out many different varieties of underwater plants and tossing them to the side. She’d reorganize them after she got the burning in her tail to stop. 

Lance and Hunk were busy keeping Keith and Shiro company, pointing at her various items and telling them about how she does weird ‘magic’ in here. She once tried telling them it wasn’t magic, that it was called ‘science’, but they never really caught on. With a quick glance in their direction, she noticed Shiro staring around the cave with wide eyes. Like he recognized-

She did a mental facepalm. OF COURSE HE RECOGNIZED THE CAVE! She use to hang out with him and Matt in this hidden cave all the time! Doing secret science that was meant to be used against the Galra in the war. The reason why they were all taken.

“Pidge... how did you find this cave?” Shiro asked, looking at her as she applied the Coral Seaweed she finally managed to dig out to her torn fins. 

“I... came across it one day. Thought it was a nice, well hidden place. Set up shop and lived here ever since,” she quickly lied.

Shiro wasn’t buying it though, he gave Keith a look, then walked over to her. He stared at her face, and she had to resist the urge to curl up in a ball and hide. His searching eyes lit up with recognition, and he seemed to fight back his own urge to reach out. “K-Katie?” He whispered, covering his mouth with his hand instead.

Pidge gave up her charade, knowing it would be pointless to try and deny it. “Hi Shiro,” She weakly smiled.

He moved faster than she thought possible, dragging her out of the water (which is no small feat) and into a squeezing bear hug. “Katie, how are you alive? We saw you fall-! I thought... I thought you were dead, we all did...” he trailed off. She felt his body shake with silent sobs. “I thought they killed you... you didn’t resurface...” his shutters grew more violent as he failed to suppress his sobs. “They said you died upon hitting the water, the impact too much...” Pidge felt her own arms wrap around Shiro, trying to sooth him. Lance, Hunk and Keith were all staring at them, confused as to why Shiro was crying into the small mermaid. “Katie... what happened?” Shiro asked, clearly indicating her tail.

“I’ll... I’ll tell you later. Now is not a really good time...” she trailed off, looking at the staring trio.

“Pidge? Why does he keep calling you Katie?” Lance asked, unable to mind his own business. 

Pidge struggled to think of a quick lie, then sighed in defeat. Her web of secrets was quickly unraveling before her eyes and even as she tried to hold it still, it just slipped through her fingers. She didn’t plan for this, her plan never included still looking like this when she found them. She had hoped that Shiro wouldn’t notice, that the scales and changes would hide her face well enough as to pass off as a random helpful mermaid.

She should’ve known better, Shiro could pick Matt out from a crowd, even if they all wore the same clothes and he changed the colour of his hair. Even her own extreme haircut couldn’t throw him off for long.

“What is going on?” Keith asked. 

“Yeah Pidge, why does he keep calling you Katie?” Hunk also asked.

Pidge took in a breath as Shiro set her back down in the water. “Because... that’s my real name,” she finally let out. “My real name is Katie Holt, and I... I’m supposed to be human.”

Lance let out a dramatic gasp right after her reveal, while Keith and Hunk just looked at her in surprise. “What do you mean, ‘supposed to be human’?” Keith asked.

“I mean that I got turned into this, I was born human, and got turned into this a year ago!” Pidge exclaimed.

Lance gasped again, “Me and Hunk found you a year ago!”

“It’s Hunk and I, Lance,” Pidge corrected. “And yes, you found me right after I fell in the water.”

“So that’s why you were extremely freaked out when we found you!” Hunk gasped.

“But then, how did you get turned into a mermaid?” Keith asked.

“I’m not a mermaid,” Pidge sighed again. “Turns out, I got turned into a siren. If I was a mermaid, I could go on land and search for Matt but with this stupid tail-!” She splashed it in the water for extra effect. “I can’t do jack squat.”

“You still didn’t tell us HOW,” Keith asked.

“It’s because I’m not entirely sure how, all I know was I got covered in my brothers experimental goo and shit, then I fell off a cliff, then boom! Tail. I tried going on land, but instead I got a horrible fever which took me a week to recover from,” Pidge sighed once more.

“Wait- goo?” Keith asked, extremely confused. 

“I can explain from here,” Shiro told Pidge, and she nodded, not wanting to talk any more. “In the Holt house, I was visiting Matt and discussing with him, Katie-Pidge, and his dad, Sam, about ways we could end the war between the Galra and humans. This was a topic we discussed for months, but the Galra caught on at some point and ambushed the house. They grabbed us all, and we tried to fight back. They threatened to kill Katie if we didn’t cooperate.

“But, instead Katie bit the guard holding her, and he threw her. She hit a shelf holding Matt’s separate experiments and the glass shattered on her, covering her with the contents inside... They took this in offence and dragged us outside, then made us watch as...” Shiro choked on the last words, seeming as though he was experiencing the memory again.

“They threw me off the cliff,” Pidge finished. “Tossed me screaming over the edge.”

Both Hunk and Lance looked horrified, Keith seemed more angry than anything. “Heartless bastards,” Keith hissed.

Shiro nodded, “Matt and Sam stopped fighting the moment she disappeared over the cliff, unsure if what we all saw was real or not...”  
He paused and looked at Pidge, sorrow in his eyes. “You dad and Matt were broken, they could only scream your name as they dragged us away. Sam got his wrist broken for screaming and struggling so much, demanding that they let him save you. Matt and I got knocked out cold before we managed to cause more noise...”

Silence filled the cave, then Pidge cut through it.

“I’ll save them,” Pidge suddenly declared.

Everyone turned their attention to her, surprised. “What?” Lance asked.

“For the past year, I’ve been trying to figure out how to turn back to normal, which is hard as fuck since I have no clue what Matt was working with in those samples, nor the quantities that managed to get on me. But I’ve also been working on how to stop the Galra, and I’m onto something,” she explained. With a flick of her tail, she waded over to another cubby and dug out a really old looking book. She scooted back and dropped the book at their feet with a ‘twump’! Then flipped open the cover and through the pages.

“I found it on a shipwreck, and luckily for me, it was hardly water-damaged!” She grinned.

“Um, I think you should look at that again, it’s letters are all washed out,” Keith noted, looking closer at the pages. Pidge slapped him in the back of the head and he jolted back with a yelp.

“It uses a different language dumb-dumb, an ancient one! Altaen!” She wagged her finger knowingly.

“How do you know?” Lance asked, swimming over and causing Pidge to move the book out of his reach. 

“A month of deciphering two sentences,” she stated. “But that’s not why I’m showing you this. It’s because of this!” She pointed to a picture on a page, showing 5 sketched crystals in a pentagon shape, all having a line connect each crystal to a 6th crystal in the middle. Writing surrounded the crystals, the scribbles seeming to explain the purpose of the drawings. “They found a way to stop the Galra, but were unable to stop them before they were wiped out! They called it ‘VOLTRON’.”

Hunk looked over Lance’s shoulder as Shiro and Keith closely examined the pictures. “What do they do?” Shiro asked.

“If all five are gathered, they lead to the sixth crystal, which is the one that will stop the Galra. How you may ask? I have no fucking clue, this is how far I’ve gotten. That and the possible locations of most of the crystals,” Pidge pointed out.

Keith looked at her in disbelief, “you’re saying that this pile of rocks is the key to stopping the Galra Empire, and you know where to find the crystals? I don’t believe it.”

“Did you forget that Altaens were fae folk? They’re MAGIC rocks. And I said most locations. Four out of five. The only reason I haven’t swam off and gathered them is because the three and possibly fourth one are on LAND, and RAIN-CHECK! I still can’t walk.”

Her eyes then suddenly lit up, mischief bouncing in her eyes. “But you all can!”

“What?” Everyone else asked, different levels of confusion lining their voices.

“Hunk and Lance can walk, you two can walk, which means if I could figure out a portable container of water... WE COULD FIND THEM!” She exclaimed, nearly leaping out of the water. 

Hunk raised his hand. “Wait, question! Why do Lance and I have to go?” Hunk asked as he pointed to Lance and himself.

“Because I also deciphered a prophecy about two from the sea, one from the land, one from the sky and a halfling caught in between,” she said in ‘a matter of fact’ tone.

“Prophecy? You never mentioned a prophecy!” Hunk yelped.

“As much as I am a woman of science, I don’t fuck with prophecies. You always follow a prophecy,” she declared.

“I-I guess that makes sense,” Hunk sighed in defeat.

“What’s a prophecy got to do with this?” Keith huffed, seeming to become annoyed by the idea.

“Well, Altaens had an oracle vibe, a lot of their history being based on prophecies they recited. Like most of their other artifacts, Voltron has a prophecy surrounding it. The last one before the fae were wiped out,” Pidge said as she flipped the page. “I deciphered it a month ago, and haven’t been able to make a clue of it until now. ‘When five unite, two from sea, one from land, one from sky and one caught inbetween, the shards will be found and unite Voltron’! There’s more but I haven’t gotten that far yet, but it makes sense now! Hunk and Lance,” she pointed at the two merman who yelped in surprise from her outburst. “They are two from the sea! Shiro is the one from sky since the Galra probably took him to their air fortress at some point, Keith is the one from land, and I’m the one caught in between!” She pointed out!

“Does that really count as being ‘from sky’?” Keith asked.

“Not all prophecies are perfect, sometimes there are mistranslations. But don’t you see? If we go and find these crystals, we can end the Galra! We can save my dad and Matt!” She excitedly exclaimed.

“But, What if all it is, is a story?” Keith asked, causing Pidge pause, then turn his way.

“What are you talking about? These are ALTAEN prophecies, not some half assed wannabe prophecy. These things are the real deal, last time someone doubted them, the Galra took over!” She argued.

“That was centuries ago, these could’ve been modified or glorified, it could all be a myth,” Keith stated.

“Well maybe it’s my ONLY HOPE OF FINDING MY FAMILY BEFORE THE GALRA KILL THEM!” Pidge suddenly shrieked, losing control for that second. She gave Keith a glare before turning her head away from him, leaving him standing there in surprise. “It’s a chance to finally end this wretched war, a single chance. I’ve been told to always take such a chance, because if you ignore it... ignoring a chance let’s it get away and make any situation worse. If you want to make a difference...” Pidge’s shoulders tensed as she remembered Matt telling her the exact same thing. “Then you need to act before others can stop you.”

The cove fell into a heavy silence, the weight of her words seeming to echo in their minds.

Lance then raised his hand, “I’ll help. My mama told me that one day, the Galra would find a way to get to us, and we had to be ready for that day. If I can prevent that, then this is a chance I will take!” 

Hunk also raised his hand, determination set on his face, “to protect everyone at home, and help those who ask for it. I’ll take the chance as well!”

Shiro nodded, his arms crossed. “I was with you from the start, a chance is a chance.”

Everyone’s stares turned to Keith, who quickly turned his head away. He stared at the wall before looking at Shiro, then sighing. “Fine. I’ll do it.”

Lance splashed around and chirped happily, “Land adventure! Land adventure!” He dove into the water then leapt out into the air, cheering “go team Voltron!” Before splashing back into the water.

Pidge felt her heart swell, they were going to help her. She was going to find them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pidge is very bad at keeping secrets, mainly from Shiro. But guess what. This isn’t the last of the secrets. Mwahahaha!
> 
> YOU WILL NEVER GUESS WHATS COMING UP NEXT


	6. The start of an Adventure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The adventure begins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas all! 
> 
> I have been on a posting spree.

Lance quickly looked over his shoulder as he shovelled his precious collection into his bag. He felt horrible just leaving like this, in the middle of the night while everyone was asleep. But if he told anyone, they would try and stop them and tell them they were too young. He was tired of staying in the same place, doing the same thing everyday, he wanted MORE. Now, the opportunity for more was right in FRONT of him!

He looked at his note to his mama, clutching his woven satchel a bit tighter before turning and swimming out of his room and towards his meeting place with Hunk. Looking around the dark colony, he tried to memorize every detail, every nook and cranny and odd fish that swam past. He remembered his mama’s face and kept it in his mind, next to his five younger siblings and many other younger cousins. He smiled at the thought and nearly slammed into Hunk as he whipped around the corner, flailing out his fins in time to avoid colliding with him.

“Neptune’s beard! I thought you were a patroller for a second!” Hunk exclaimed as he clutched his chest and sighed in relief. “Come on, we better go before one actually shows up!” 

Lance nodded and followed Hunk with a flick of his tail, zipping quickly through the dark waters, their scales giving off soft glows of blended sapphire and gold. “Hunk?” Lance asked, looking over his shoulder.

“Yeah?” Hunk replied.

“Is this... right? Just leaving like this?” Lance whimpered, conflicted.

“Well, we both know that telling anyone would just cause them to stop us, and we did leave notes vaguely describing why we left,” Hunk notes.

“Yeah, but... I feel guilty about it, like I should have told my mama...” he sighed.

“I know what you mean, but we are doing this for the greater good! To stop the Galra! They’ll understand!” Hunk tried to comfort.

Lance nodded, “Yeah... YEAH! And we get to see more of the world while we’re at it!”

“Exactly, win-win! We help the world while you fulfil you dream!” Hunk pointed out.

Lance felt a bit better, he couldn’t dwell on what ifs or regrets at this point. He could do that once they are on land.

They slowed their pace until they came to a complete stop in front of the wide beach beside the bowl coral reef. They looked at each other then slowly peeled their heads out of the water, looking for Keith and Shiro. “Can you see them?” Lance whispered.

“Hard to tell, I can’t see in the dark as well above water than below water, maybe...” he answered as he squinted at the beach. Someone tapped Lance on the shoulder and he yelped in surprise while flipping away from them, causing a big splash. 

Pidge pokes her head out of the water, he eyes glowing gold- like her eyes. He suddenly remembered what his mama told him about sirens, their eyes glow in the dark. “Whoa, jumpy much?” Pidge laughed. “I see you’re both ready, Shiro and Keith are waiting on the beach,” Pidge explained as Lance swam back, embarrassed. 

“Did you talk to them?” Hunk asked.

“No, I see them. Shiro waved,” Pidge said as she waved back. “Come on, you two need to get your fish butts on land before dawn, we don’t want any unwanted attention before then,” She pointed out as she swam forward.

Hunk and Lance followed her until they got as far as possible on the beach while water still lapped at their waists. “Now what?” Lance asked.

“You two drag yourselves on land and get legs,” Pidge simply put. 

“W-what?” Lance and Hunk both yelped. “Is that how it really works?”

Pidge shrugged, “always been my theory! Now go!”

“But-but!” Hunk stuttered.

“Keith and Shiro are there to help you guys! You’ll be fine! If anything, they will throw you back into the water if you feel something is wrong, ok?” Pidge soothed.

They both nodded, excitement and fear twisting in their guts. Then they dragged themselves on land and away from the waves. Shiro stood next to Lance and Keith went to help Hunk. “Have you ever done this before?” Shiro asked Lance as he felt his body either shake from the cold or from fear. 

“Well... uh... no. Only a few ever do and they only do it in dire times...” Lance explained. He remembered the stories the scouts would tell them, how their bones would snap and their tails would tear in two. They would laugh as Lance would squeak and hide behind the closest person or object and continue on with their day.

He assumed those were just tales to scare him away from land in general, but he couldn’t help but wonder if they were true. 

Lost in his thoughts, he snapped back to the present and noticed his tail felt numb. “Sh-Shiro!” Lance yelped, causing the man to look at him in surprise.

“What’s wrong?”

“I can’t feel my tail, is it still there?!” He cried, panic quickly rising inside his chest. What if he’s drying out?! What if he was a siren all along, secretly adopted by a pod of merfolk?! And now he was dying!! Oh Neptune, what if his tail FELL OFF?!

“It’s ok! It’s still there!” Shiro soothed, seeming unsure as to what to do. “It’s just... doing something weird...” 

“Weird?! How weird? Weird as in it’s FALLING OFF?!” Lance cried. Hunk and Keith then started screaming, which failed to ease Lance’s nerves. “AM I GONNA DIE?!”

“No! It’s ok Lance! Just focus on my voice!” Shiro soothed over the the screaming, forcing Lance to look at him. “Focus on my voice. Everything is ok, nothing bad is going on. Tell me something, talk through this. Family, dreams, favourite foods,” he suggested.

“I... I really like clams,” Lance sniffled.

“Alright, and why do you like clams Lance?” Shiro asked.

“Because... because they taste really good... and it’s a lot of fun to open... you have to get really creative sometimes. Hunk is really good at getting them open. He can just tear them open, I usually use rocks,” he explained, the fear fading. 

“That’s really cool, does Hunk like clams as much as you do?” Shiro questioned, tilting his head.

“Ummm... no. He likes these cool things he made... it’s clownfish seaweed wrapped around a bunch of smaller fish. He’s really good at doing stuff like that,” Lance remembered.

“Lance,” Shiro smiled.

“Yeah?” Lance asked.

“It’s over, you have legs,” he pointed out.

Lance blanked out, completely confused before realizing what he said. “WhaaaaAAAAT?!” He squealed, flipping over and looking at what use to be his tail. Shiro squeaked and averted his gaze as Lance marvelled his new legs, testing them with a few twitches here and there before trying to stand up.

Hunk and Keith had stopped screaming and Lance was pretty sure that meant Hunk had legs now too! Stumbling upright, he took a few steps forward, trying to imitate what he had seen Shiro and Keith do. His first attempt ended up with him face-first in the sand, as well as his second attempt ending in a similar way. He finally started getting the hang of it on the third attempt, which his first thought led to showing Keith.

“Meith!!” Lance exclaimed, stumbling towards him. “Look! I have legs! And I’m WALKING!”

Keith glanced his way and his face immediately turned a deep red before he looked away. “PUT SOME PANTS ON,” Keith screamed. 

“Pants?” Lance asked, then stumbled, tried to regain his balance, and collided with Keith. Knocking them both to the ground with Lance on top. Keith screamed and shoved him off before sitting up away from him. Lance felt confused, what was making Keith so red and touchy?

“Uh Lance, humans wear clothes to hide their genitalia. They have different anatomy down there compared to merfolk,” Hunk explained as he finished tugging the fabric over his legs to his waist. “That’s what Keith told me when he gave me these and told me what to do, didn’t Shiro give you yours?”

Lance looked down and suddenly felt very exposed. “That IS different than merfolk,” he stared.

“Just- go get some pants PLEASE,” Keith scowled.

“I also think it’s related to this modesty thing Pidge has, which is why she wraps that seaweed around her chest. I believe it’s a human thing,” Hunk shrugged.

“Mod-eh-stee...” Lance sounded out.

“Embarrassed to expose certain parts of the body in public or around others,” Hunk sighed.

“Oooooohhhhhhh...” Lance realized. 

Someone tapped his shoulder and he looked over to Shiro who held out the ‘pants’ while covering his eyes while also looking away. “Please put these on,” Shiro asked.

“Ok! Whatever helps us ‘blend in’” Lance chuckled as Hunk pointed out how to put the pants on.

Which was more of a hassle than he originally thought, especially since he was still trying to figure out how to move his legs separately instead of in union. It was so WEIRD. After struggling and falling, then rolling around in the sand, which made things really uncomfortable in some areas, he managed to force the pants on and stand up in triumph. “Now! Do I look human enough?” Lance cooed, posing as if he was a model.

“Uh, not yet,” Keith muttered, the red in his face almost gone now as he now looked at Lance. “You still have...” Keith gestured to his own ears. 

“Huh?” Lance asked, feeling his own ears and realizing they were still fins and not human ears. “What? Why don’t I have human ears?” Lance asked, looking at Keith’s ears and frowning.

“Because your a merman idiot!” Pidge cried from the water. “Merfolk keep some of their features on land! Sometimes it’s scales and sometimes it’s fins! Depends on the person!”

“How do you know this?” Lance yelled back. “Even I didn’t know this!”

“Your pods scouts, I sometimes watch them! It’s how I figured out merfolk COULD go on land and tried to test it out! They have similar effects! Just wear a hat!” She cried.

Lance looked at Hunk, “what did you keep?”

Hunk pointed to his shoulders, and forehead. “I kept my scales, only those spots though,” he pointed out.

“How are we going to hide those forehead scales?” Lance asked. “Another hat?”

“Try this,” Shiro offered, handing Hunk what looked like a very long piece of fabric, which looked a lot like the ribbons he collected, only wider.

“What do I do with this?” Hunk asked.

Shiro smiled and took the wide fabric ribbon and wrapped it around Hunks head, covering the scales and tying it up in the back. “It’s a headband, it’ll also keep your bangs off you face,” he explained.

“Whoa, sweet!” Hunk chirped, gingerly touching the headband.

“Looking great bud!” Lance encouraged, giving him a thumbs up. Hunk winked and returned the gesture.

“You guys done yet? Or did you forget me?” Pidge called.

“We got the things you asked for, but why did we need a cart and a bunch of barrels full of water?” Keith questioned.

“For me! CATCH ME SHIRO!” Pidge suddenly cried.

“WhaT?” Shiro asked, spinning towards her. Before he had time to act, she had flung herself out of the water and into Shiro. He managed to fling his own arms out in time to catch her but the momentum still caused him to stumble back and grunt with effort as she wrapped her arms around his neck and hung on.

“I always wanted to do that. Now put me in a barrel,” she ordered.

“Wait, your plan of transport is a BARREL?” Keith gasped in disbelief.

“Do you have a better plan Mr.Edge? Nah, I didn’t think so,” she mocked before he had a chance to reply. 

“Why barrels though?” Shiro grunted as he struggled over to the cart Lance now noticed. 

“It’s the least noticeable, the cart and extra barrels are for transport ease and camouflage. You don’t want to walk halfway across the continent with a barrel full of water and half fish on your back! And the Galra will never notice! Any questions asked can be answered with, ‘we are humble merchants transporting and selling fresh water’! See? Boring, and invisible,” she grinned. Shiro gently lowered her into the barrel, then stumbled back, out of breath.

“So what happens when you start swimming in your own filth after a few weeks?” Keith frowned.

Pidge grinned evilly, then dug into her bag and pulled out a large mass of underwater moss. “See this? This little plant here filters the water, which means it cleans it daily, which also means I can last WEEKS in this barrel. No need for water change! Bonus, it’s really soft, so that’s nice.” She ducked into the barrel with the plant then popped back up. “We all good? You got the book Shiro?”

“Have it right here,” he gestured to the book in his hands and placed it in the cart. “Everyone has everything?”

“Get those two shirts and Lance a hat, and then we should be good to go!” Pidge pointed out as she leaned on the edge of the barrel.

“Shirts?” Hunk and Lance asked in union.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good ol Klance


	7. The Barrel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge realizes that being stuck in a small space for a long period of time may not have been the best idea she could have came up with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Another chapter!
> 
> A new semester has started and I am already procrastinating! Good start.
> 
> Enjoy!

Barely a day in and she was already sick of the barrel.

It was hot and sloshy and she just wanted to whack the lid off and lean over the side. Yeah, what a great plan this had become.

Yet it was working, for the few hours they had managed down the road, nobody had stopped them. Shiro told her that some Galra passed by and barely took a second glance their way. Hunk and Lance were the only ones people would look at funny, mainly because of their childish excitement.

She could hear every squeal that Lance made when he saw something new, and the constant questions Hunk asked about those things that Lance would squeal at. It did make the trip so far less painful, it was like taking two kids to a magical new land. Which was exactly what it actually was when she thought about it.

A sudden realization came to mind as the cart hit a bump and she hit her head on the lid of the barrel, she was going to be stuck in this thing for WEEKS. Minimum.

She may need to start thinking about a new plan that didn’t involve being stuffed in a small container full of water. At least the underwater moss was soft and kept the water fresh, even if it was hot.

But how would that be accomplished? She needed something that could hold water so her tail could stay submerged. Yet it has to be invisible, something that someone would look at then shrug and turn away as if it’s nothing unusual. She spent days on this barrel idea, how would she come up with something better, just like that?

She quietly groaned to herself, why did she have to end up in this situation? Why was there a DIFFERENCE between sirens and merfolk? Why did she happen to get the one that COULDN’T magically grow legs?

She slouched deeper in the barrel, trying to snap her mind out of feeling sorry for herself. 

At this point, she was pinning everything on the one crystal to solve this, of course she didn’t actually tell any of the others that. The text she read spoke of the crystals working is different ways, some ways in such help the user. There were pictures depicting some examples, a flightless altaen able to fly once again, a blind elf blessed with sight, as well as humans regaining lost limbs. The one that caught her interest was a picture labelled: ‘A beach Siren, able to fully experience the summer breeze’. When she translated it, it caught her off guard, she wasn’t sure if she was able to believe the text. Her denial led her to digging through Matt’s experiments and trying to find out what he did and what was dumped on her.

Then the ingredients started running out, and she was getting no closer to solving the problem than she was at the beginning. Half of the ingredients came from deep inland, and she knew that once she ran out, there was no more she could do. Leading her right back to the text, and the hope that maybe these crystals can be the answer she’s looking for.

She knew it was dumb, that she shouldn’t dig so deep into the text and pin so much on these legends. Then again, here they were, on a hunt for such a legend.

She looked up at the lid of the barrel, her eyes and fins lighting up the darkness ever so slightly. When did she get so desperate, as to prove that these fairy tales exist? Keith was right, these stories could’ve been glorified or made up to keep kids in bed. She could just be leading them all on a goose chase, or even worse, to the Galra. 

She looked at her hands, then perked up slightly as she remembered something. These were just stories, until Lance showed her his favourite keepsake. How could she forget about it?

How could she have forgotten to tell everyone about it? The sea crystal, the one she wasn’t worried about! It was what drove her to these legends, it proved that the book contained history instead of myth.

Lance already had the sea crystal, and he still has it. It slipped her mind to tell him, to prove to them that this is a real journey and what they are searching for exists! 

The cart jerked to a stop and she blinked in surprise as someone lifted the lid and pale light flooded in.

She poked her head out and jolted in surprise when she realized it was night. Was she really lost in her thoughts for so long?

“We made it past a village and a ways from the water, we all decided that resting off road would be the best choice,” Shiro explained as he placed the lid down. “You alright? You’ve been awfully quiet this whole trip.”

“I forgot to tell you something about the crystals!” Pidge blurted before she could forget. They all turned her way from her outburst.

“What do you mean?” Keith asked.

“We already have one! It slipped my mind and I just remembered I never told any of you!” She exclaimed.

“Already-? How?” Keith demanded.

Pidge pointed to Lance, “because he showed me!”

“I did?” Lance asked.

“You did?” Hunk questioned at the same time.

“Your favourite rock that you carry everywhere! It’s the crystal!” She explained.

Lance widened his eyes in surprise and then quickly dug into his bag, searching through it until he pulled out a small, jagged, clear, ice blue crystal. “This?” He asked. “It’s just a rock, I found it in a cave when I was younger. Weird carvings in the wall, but it could’ve just been guppies who were there previously,” he explained.

Pidge motioned for him to get closer, then turned to Shiro. “I need the book!” Shiro nodded and handed her the old text, which she flipped through the pages to the page that held Voltron. “Look! Look! It matches the description, clear, jagged, blue... is it cold to the touch?” She asked.

Lance nodded, “I just assumed it was the waters. But it’s still cool...”

Pidge then thought of something. “Lance, did you ever have problems as a kid? Like hearing, seeing, anything?”

“Kid? Oh! You mean guppy! Yeah, my one fin was really messed up, which caused me to swim in circles endlessly unless I physically moved it,” he thought back.

Pidge pushed down her excitement, “and when did that happen to stop?” 

“Around the time I... found the... crystal...” he trailed off, realizing what Pidge was hinting at. “The crystal-“

“Healed your tail! It made it possible to swim naturally!” Pidge cut him off. “It’s the real deal!” 

“Maybe this adventure isn’t full of as much bullshit as I initially thought,” Keith muttered. 

“YOU CALLED IT AN ADVENTURE, YOU’RE INTO IT!” Lance suddenly exploded, giddily swaying as he looked at the shocked and probably now deaf Keith.

“oW,” Keith stated as he tenderly poked the ear that was closest to Lance.

“Well Pidge, what is our first destination?” Shiro asked, brushing off Lance’s shriek as if it was nothing. 

Pidge grinned as she reached for a map. “The five crystals have five elements. Water, Earth, Fire, Life, and Space. Weird ass elements, but you get the idea. We have the water crystal thanks to Lance here, and I figured out the general locations of the Fire, Life, and Earth crystals. The Space crystal... I can only ASSUME it’s in an old Fae settlement, but that’s only a guess. We are going to that one first since the rumoured village is closest, if we find nothing, then we move on. Then it’s the great forest in which the Life crystal should be hidden in, then we either go to the Scorch desert which holds the Earth crystal or Death Mountain which holds the Fire crystal!”

“You mean we have to discover a long lost village, scour a huge fucking jungle, comb a huge ass desert, and climb a FUCKING volcano and find four small-ass rocks?” Keith asked, who was still recovering from Lance’s earlier screech.

“YEP!” Pidge exclaimed with more enthusiasm than she personally felt. “It’s called an adventure for a reason, KEEF.”

“I feel like you’re mocking me,” Keith groaned.

“I mock everyone, it’s what I do,” Pidge nodded, dipping back into the water that was cooling down from the nightly air. 

“It would be a shame if I tipped over that barrel of yours,” Keith threatened.

“It would be a shame if I decided to take a limb or too before you managed to get so much as two feet away from my barrel,” Pidge countered with a toothy grin.

Keith shifted slightly away from her, causing her to smirk in triumph.

She turned back to her maps when something caught her nose. “Hey, do you guys smell something burning?” She asked as she looked around, the scent of smoke and fire quite clear in the air. Shiro looked around, confused at her question.

Hunk and Lance followed suit, sniffing the air and shaking their heads. “I don’t smell it,” Lance stayed with a shrug.

“Me neither, might be your nose tricking you or something. Probably from being in a barrel all day,” Hunk suggested.

Pidge frowned and looked at the wooden roundish box she was stuck in. Was that the reason?

She looked over at Keith who hadn’t said anything yet, who only looked away when he saw her gaze on him. “Yeah, probably just the barrel messing with your senses,” he agreed with Hunk.

Pidge frowned as she stared at Keith. Something was definitely off about him, but he WAS helping them.

“We should get some rest, then map out some areas to search for this forgotten village and hopefully find this crystal,” Shiro suggested.

Everyone nodded in agreement. Maybe she just needed some sleep, this wouldn’t be the first time she got delusional over the lack of sleep. Yet the hallucinations usually don’t kick in until the 28 hour mark.

Lance and Hunk tried to figure out the best position for sleep for their first night with legs, while Shiro was immediately out like a light in one of the most uncomfortable looking positions possible. She blamed the Galra based on the fact that he went out so fast.

Then there was just Keith and her left to let sleep take over. Only Keith seemed to be waiting for HER to go to sleep before doing so himself. 

“What is your goal in all of this?” She suddenly asked Keith, unable to place the Pirate from the first day she met him. 

Keith looked up in surprise, then at Shiro who managed to shift to a less uncomfortable position. He sighed as he slightly leaned back and crossed his arms. “I want to help Shiro. I owe him everything,” he simply stated.

“Why is that?” Pidge asked.

Keith frowned, “I answered one of your questions, no need to delve into my entire life story.”

Pidge frowned back, she kinda did want to know his entire life story. But she wouldn’t accomplish anything if she pushed too much. “I guess,” she answered instead. With that being said, she dipped her head under the water and curled up at the bottom, shifting ever so slightly as to try and accomplish a somewhat comfortable position to fall asleep in. All she wanted was to stretch out instead of being in such an awkward position, but she was doing this all for her family. Once they got these crystals, they could stop the Galra and save her brother and dad. A few cramps were nothing compared to what they were going through!

She closed her eyes and found herself falling into an uneasy sleep, slightly aware of the nightmares that were bound to visit her as she slept.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How will Pidge manage to stay in the BARREL? Maybe she should get a really big box or something. Or magic.
> 
> Also... Anyone notice Keith acting kinda weird??


	8. The Journey Continues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge is still unhappy with the barrel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter! I’m experiencing some writers block with ‘Lost’ but hopefully I’ll get past it soon and update that one as well! Don’t worry! I haven’t abandoned any of my other stories!

The second day in the barrel was worst than the first, it was hotter than before and she could feel claustrophobia settling in as the space seemed to get much smaller every so often. She had to nudge the lid off just a little to let some cool air wash over her and ease her nausea, but then close it again in fear of suspicious looks at the slightly ajar lid on one of the barrels. She flicked her fins and gently nudged the torn ones from the incident, boredom tugging at her mind. Her mind flickered back and forth between ways to get out of the barrel or ideas on how to turn back to normal. Both were ending in blanks and impossible solutions that only magic could produce.

She grumbled and tried to twist in a different position, only to become even more uncomfortable and regretting all her life choices to this point into time. Maybe she should just fling herself out of the barrel just to be able to stretch out and ease the cramps in every muscle of her body. She knew it was a dumb idea but tempting none the less.

“How you holding up Pidge?” Hunk asked, causing her to snap her attention back to reality.

“Never been better,” she answered sarcastically. 

The lid of the barrel was removed and she took this as an indication to surface and splay the top half of her body over the edge. Lance tapped her shoulder and shove a sandwich in her hand, “check these out! Shiro calls them ‘sandwiches’ but I don’t taste any sand or witches! They are pretty good actually!”

She rolled her eyes but smiled as she devoured the food in less than a bite. Oh how she missed land food, she only had fish and the occasional orange that would drop into the ocean. Sandwiches didn’t exactly taste great when soaked with sea water. Yet she had to admit, “They don’t taste as good as anything Hunk makes,” she grinned. 

Hunks face turned red as he turned away and took a bite of his own sandwich, unable to swallow it whole like Pidge. “You’re only saying that!”

Pidge let out a huff of disagreement, “nobody but my mom can cook in my family, all we can produce is something that tastes like dirt! You have a gift!”

“Yeah! You should try making stuff with all these land foods!” Lance agreed, his mouth full as he spoke. 

They laughed as they spoke together, then Pidge paused as she felt someone staring at her. Turning, she locked eyes with Keith, who quickly averted his gaze when he noticed her looking at him. Frowning, she narrowed her eyes as she tried to catch his, but he refused to look back at her. Something about him made her fins flare defensively, a threat she didn’t quite understand yet.

She hated this feeling, and she hated not being able to recognize the reason for it. This wasn’t the first time she had this feeling either, once before it was in the ocean with Hunk and Lance. A fisherman fell in the water and Lance insisted on helping him, but something about him sent a defensive feeling through her. When they went to help him, he turned out to be nothing more than bait and his buddies that were on the boat he fell off tried to harpoon them. Luckily they managed to flip the boat then dive back into the safety of the deep waters, but not without some damage to their fins. She learned that this feeling indicated an unseen threat, as well as that Lance and Hunk didn’t have this feeling. She theorized it may be a siren thing, but could never confirm it based on the fact that she never met other sirens.

Keith kept setting off this feeling, but she didn’t know what to think of it since he seemed so sincere about helping Shiro.

“Pidge?”

She snapped her attention back to the two mers, then smiled, “sorry, I thought I saw something but it must’ve been nothing.”

The two shrugged and carried on with their conversation with Pidge, in which she continued to sneak glances back at Keith or Shiro in between. Keith seemed really focused on some branch he was carving with a knife every time she snuck a glance, and Shiro seemed to be avoiding her all together.

She didn’t blame him, he thought she was dead for an entire year, then he finds her with the tail of a fish and hanging out with two mythical beings of the sea. He needed space to process it all.

“So where are we at this point?” Pidge asked.

Lance pulled out the map they marked and spread it down, then pointed at the outside of a nearby village, not too far from the ocean. “Shiro said we are in this area, just outside the village. We went through the village and it was... incredible,” he gasped.

“There were so many humans! And things! Humans and things!” Hunk exclaimed.

Pidge shook her head as she laughed, imagining the looks on their faces when they entered the village. They probably have never seen houses made out of wood, heck, they’ve probably never really seen wood up close that wasn’t driftwood or part of a boat. “What else did you see?”

Lance thought for a second before spilling everything he saw in the village that he had never seen before, ranging from the multiple fruits in the markets to the different species of elves that are a rare sight so close to the ocean. Pidge did her best to answer every question he or Hunk had about these things, but some things she just didn’t know and had to move on to a different question. 

Halfway through, Shiro snapped out of his trance and declared their break over as they got back into the cart. Pidge reluctantly stared at the lid of the barrel, wanting to keep it off for a little longer. Shiro must’ve noticed her look.

“We passed the village, and our next destination is the lost village. You can stay out unless we spot another traveler, not to mention we’ll need your help pinning the location of this village,” Shiro pointed out.

Pidge let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding, relief flooding her body as she draped herself over the edge of the barrel, “I’m already sick of this stinkin’ barrel, thank you so much.”

Shiro smiled as she positioned herself to be facing the map, then turned his gaze back to the off trail road, “so how far into the forest do we have to go?” He asked.

“Well, based on the fact that no one has ever really found this place, I have no clue how far we have to go. I just know the general area it should be in and where to go to get to that general area. I’ve read about some indications of magic barriers, so this may be more difficult than it seems,” Pidge explained. 

“If there is some magic barrier, then how would we get through it? We aren’t exactly Altean ourselves,” Keith pointed out.

“I am mainly hoping that the one crystal we have will help us through, it is suppose to be magic after all,” Pidge countered. 

Lance pulled out his crystal and looked at it, turning it over in his hands. “Is it suppose to do something?” He asked.

They all shrugged in union, unsure of how magic really worked. They continued forward, the trees seemingly endless around them as the treaded deeper and deeper into the forest. Suddenly, a chill shot up Pidge’s spine and she shuttered. 

At the same moment, Lance exclaimed, “ITS DOING SOMETHING!” Everyone quickly turned their attention on the rock in Lance’s hand, which weakly pulsed in a rhythmic way.

“That’s not normal,” Hunk commented, looking over Lance’s shoulder. 

“What does it mean?” Shiro asked.

Lance frowned, “I have no idea.”

“Try twisting around,” Pidge ordered, thinking back to the ancient texts.

Lance obeyed, turning slightly to the left. In response, the jewel dimmed and everybody gasped in union. “Now try turning right!” Keith exclaimed.

Without hesitation, Lance whipped around to the right, in which the gem responded by glowing brighter. “It’s like hot water, cold water!” Lance squealed as he twisted from side to side. 

Keith and Shiro stared at him in confusion, in which Pidge pitched in to clarify, “A game mer children play, one child hides an item and the other has to find it with hints from the other. The hints are indications that they are either in cold water, which is far away from the item, or hot water, which they are probably sitting on top of the item.” Shiro and Keith ‘ooooh’d’ in union as they looked back at the crystal. 

“So when the crystal is brightest... we go the direction it’s facing,” Shiro concluded.

“Precisely!” Pidge grinned.

“Looks like we’re heading East,” Keith noted, turning the wagon in said direction.

“How did you know that?” Pidge asked, suddenly aware that he didn’t even check a compass. 

Keith flushed, quickly turning his head away as he answered. “The... sun. I used the sun.”

She quickly picked up on his lie, but said nothing more as everyone else became focused on the tiny rock in Lance’s hands that would lead them to the Lost Altaen Village.

Lance and Hunk began to theorize on what the village would look like, adding impossible things such as flying squids or seaweed. Even Shiro joined in, seeming slightly intrigued by the magic that was quickly enveloping their lives. Pidge pushes her suspicion to the side as she also joined in, but couldn’t help but notice Keith always glance her way whenever he thought she wasn’t looking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keith is super suspicious


End file.
